SIR ALEX FERGUSON had his hat on backwards throughout the match. Other than that, after 92 minutes, United looked to have won three away points in perfect fashion.

Clint Dempsey slots home with 90 minutes on the clock and Manchester United are pegged back

Defend solidly, check. Attack on the break, check. Get your top goal-scorer to slip the leash just once and snatch the vital goal, check.

Then just steer your way carefully through to the end?...?aah.

The Tottenham stewards were already shovelling away the snow from the streets around White Hart Lane ready for the mass exodus when Clint Dempsey side-footed a late equaliser.

So instead of congratulating themselves on a safely negotiated hazard, a game which had required a late pitch inspection because of the weather ended up being dominated by talk of slips, trips and falls.

Putting aside the disappointment of its late arrival, the “slip” is only a minor one. Two points dropped still leaves United five clear of rivals Manchester City and the run of form is still nine wins in their last 11 games.

The “trip” was rather more substantial and came courtesy of Steve Caulker in the 63rd minute.

There had been an immediate unease around White Hart Lane when Wayne Rooney replaced Shinji Kagawa just after the hour.

The England striker’s first act was to dart for the penalty area and Caulker ended up challenging with the wrong foot.

His clumsy act sent the United striker tumbling to the floor but, having already denied Scott Parker a penalty at the other end, referee Chris Foy waved play on again. Foy’s assistant made no attempt to dissuade him from his action and little more would have been said about the incident had it not been for the late, late “fall”.

On a night when a good, strong punch would have been just the ticket for everybody at White Hart Lane – rum, by preference – United goalkeeper David de Gea dealt weakly with a Benoit Assou-Ekotto cross.

The ball dropped to Aaron Lennon who, for once, had the presence of mind to pause and look up, picking out Dempsey with a simple pass. His fifth Premier League goal of the season – and second against United – was duly secured.

It was a single, catastrophic lapse in an otherwise impeccable display of goalkeeping from De Gea, despite the problems of poor vision and slippery ball caused by the elements.

Robin van Persie had given the visitors a narrow lead to hold on to after 25 minutes. Tom Cleverley floated a cross to the far post and the former Arsenal player nodded into the Tottenham net with trademark assurance. By then, De Gea had already had his hands warmed by a Lennon shot from the edge of the area and even managed to save Jermain Defoe’s follow-up.

Then just before the break, Rafael da Silva’s weak header from Lennon’s cross dropped straight to Gareth Bale and his arrow-like drive flicked off the hip of Rio Ferdinand. De Gea somehow managed to keep something in the way of it despite diving the wrong way.

Tottenham emerged the brighter in the second half, too, and within six minutes of the restart, man-of-the-match Mousa Dembele, ball glued to his foot, was running through the heart of the United defence.

He teed up Dempsey who side-stepped Patrice Evra’s clumsy challenge and just as the American thought he had hit the ball into the back of the net, De Gea threw out a foot and deflected the ball wide.

It was not a lone resistance by the United goalkeeper – twice Rio Ferdinand was on hand to help him out. The first came when Lennon put Defoe clear on goal only for Ferdinand to appear from nowhere to block his goal-bound shot.

Then, eight minutes later, the defender dived to get his head in the way of a Bale shot and was relieved to see the ball fly inches wide.

It looked as though United were going to get away with it – again – right until the arrival of their late disappointment.

Ferguson will put his hat on his team bouncing back from that, of course, in plenty of time for Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Fulham. This time, though, he might like to put the Manchester United badge to the front.